But sometimes these things are out of reach. Some of us struggle with money. Some have problems with their family and friends. A traditional Christmas is not their fate.

And then, a week later, here comes the New Year. A time to look back at our achievements and failures. A night when we’re supposed to carouse and revel.

But I tend to look on New Year’s Eve as an opportunity. It’s the dawning of a new day. Do not linger too much on yesterday; enjoy today to its fullest, look forward to the horizon of tomorrow.

Resolutions can be an attempt to list your failures and make a to-do list of corrections and penance. Instead, why not look to the coming year as a fresh start?

I’ve been reading Ella Wheeler Wilcox‘s poems about new years. One in particular seems applicable here. One stanza goes:

For the world is for ever improving,
All the past is not worth one to-day,
And whatever deserves our true loving,
Is stronger than death or decay.
Old love, was it wasted devotion?
Old friends, were they weak or untrue?
Well, let them sink there in mid-ocean,
And gaily sail on to the new.

As I do every year, I’m posting Dan Wilson‘s 2003 song “What a Year for a New Year,” one of the perfect things with which to mark this day. From 2007, here’s Regina Spektor’s "My Dear Acquaintance (Happy New Year)," which also can offer solace.

Dan Wilson – What a Year for a New Year

Regina Spektor – My Dear Acquaintance (Happy New Year) — BUY

(For information on these songs, take a look at the previous posts.)

Little Marcy – C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S

Soul Coughing – Suzy Snowflake

Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters – Santa Claus Is Coming to Town — BUY

The Puppini Sisters – Step Into Christmas — BUY

Kiki & Herb – Opening Medley

Kiki & Herb – Whose Child Is This? (Medley)

Family Force 5 – Do You Hear What I Hear — BUY

Thousand Foot Krutch – Jingle Bell Rock — BUY

Jeremy Lister – Santa’s Lost His Mojo — BUY

The Raveonettes – Come On Santa — BUY

The Odds – Kings of Orient

Pond – Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Brenda Lee – Papa Noël — BUY

Brenda Lee – I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus — BUY

The Free Design – Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) — BUY

The Bird and the Bee – Carol of the Bells — BUY

Alice Smith – Silver Bells — BUY

Little Jackie – Mrs. Claus Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Me

Blak Thor – Noel (I’m Giving Love for Xmas) — BUY

Neilson Hubbard – Merry Christmas (Wherever You May Be) — BUY

Denise – Din Don

The Ethiopians – Ding Dong Bell — BUY

Calamity Jane – Hannakuh Song

The Goblins – Ha-Ha Hannukah — BUY

Dr. Dyke & The Cinnamon Cowboys – Westside

Atom & His Package – What WE Do On Christmas — BUY

For example, there’s the TV Funhouse video that appeared on SNL, “Christmas for the Jews.” And then you’ve got Dr. Dyke & The Cinnamon Cowboys expressing a view of Christmas in Los Angeles, as experienced by a lonely Jew. Dr. Dyke is the alter-ego of actor Kevin Berntson.

A somewhat more sinister view is offered by Adam Goren. Back in the Nineties, Goren went from the punk band Fracture to a solo career as Atom & His Package. Around 2004, he ended up joining the band Armalite. He now teaches at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, PA. He addresses the International Jewish Conspiracy, but in a very mundane way.

Dr. Dyke & The Cinnamon Cowboys – Westside

Atom & His Package – What WE Do On Christmas — BUY

First, an instrumental from Portland band, Calamity Jane, a legendary female punk rock band. It was made up of Marci Martinez on drums, Joanna Bolme on guitar, and sisters Gilly Ann Hanner on guitar and vocals, and Megan Hanner on bass.  The band operated from 1989 to 1992, breaking up after a traumatically awful experience opening for Nirvana in Argentina, but later reuniting in 2010.

Let’s take things to an even grungier level with a 1998 song from The Goblins. As it says here, they combine “Garage rock, hardcore punk, performance art and vaudeville,” always performing hidden by masks and under such colorful monikers as Phantom Creeper, Buh Zombie and Beau Grumpus.

Calamity Jane – Hannakuh Song

The Goblins – Ha-Ha Hannukah — BUY

The poem reflects his mood. You will recognize the opening, as the poem was later turned into a song.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

The Christmas carol excludes the section of the poem that specifically refers to the Civil War.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Leading the poet to anguish.

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

But his charge is answered.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

There are all sorts of bell songs: “Carol of the Bells,” “Jingle Bells,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Silver Bells,” “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” “Christmas Bells are Ringing”. Here are two more.

First, we have Denise, otherwise known as Italian singer Denise Galdo. You can check out a couple of her other songs here or read about her in English here. Her style seem very spare and acoustic. You can get her album dodo, do! here.

The Jamaican group The Ethiopians started off in the mid Sixties as a trio, with Leonard Dillon, Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris. When Morris left, the duo of Dillon and Taylor carried on. (In ’68, Melvin Reid joined them as third vocalist.) In 1975, Taylor was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Dillon died of cancer this past September. The group was at the forefront of rocksteady, a midpoint between ska and reggae, with songs like “Train to Skaville.” “Ding Dong Bell” is the flip of their 1968 single “Reggae Hit The Town.”

Neither of these songs is to be confused with George Harrison’s 1974 holiday single “Ding Dong, Ding Dong.”

Denise – Din Don

The Ethiopians – Ding Dong Bell — BUY

Another point is that I’m fond of bittersweet portrayals of Christmas. For example, see this post on the sadness in “White Christmas,” this one on other mournful tunes or any of my posts on It’s a Wonderful Life. TV critic Todd VanDerWerff has written many times about his preference for sad Christmas, noting that the recent Christmas episode of Glee, while getting many things wrong, had “expressed my preferred reading that Christmas works best when it’s about sadness and hope, about comings and goings.”

So, I will now combine both of these elements in today’s selections, which are about separation from the ones we love during the Yuletide season.

There is almost no information available online about the Athens, GA band Blak Thor, but they seemed to be a project from members of the acts Venice is Sinking, Murder Beach and The Folk Yous. In 2007, they released three EPs: That’s The Thing About Blak Thor, That Is SO Blak Thor and Hi Beauty!. Having listened to their songs, I can’t say I care for the band. Most of the music seems noisy and sloppy, in the manner typical of indie bands. But they did provide a song to the 2007 Kindercore Christmas compilation Xmas 3: The War on Christmas! that strikes me as charming and full of the pop sensibilities appropriate for the season. (For example, the first line of the song is “Coming down to Cleveland. Can’t write a check, you only take cash.”)

Next up is Nashville’s Neilson Hubbard. Here’s his bio:

Originally hailing from Jackson, Mississippi, Nashville-based Neilson Hubbard got his start as a singer songwriter in the mid-90s, releasing four solo albums on labels such as E Pluribus Unum (owned by Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz), Parasol, and Media Creature. These recording projects opened the door to production work about a decade ago. In those years, Hubbard has produced albums for many top-tiered and critically acclaimed artists both from Nashville and around the globe including Glen Phillips (Toad The Wet Sprocket), Kim Richey, Matthew Ryan, and Garrison Starr, as well as up-and-coming artists such as The Apache Relay, Ben Glover, Shannon Whitworth, and Jill Andrews (of the Everybody Fields).

Back in 2001, when he was on the label, Hubbard contributed a song to the Parasol Records Christmas compilation Stuck In the Chimney (More Christmas Singles). A couple years later, Hubbard produced a couple EPs for Jeremy Lister, whom I posted earlier this month. So, if you dig that contemporary Nashville singer-songwriter thing, I hope that helps.

(As a sidenote, that line from Hubbard’s song “Merry Christmas, darling, wherever you may be…” comes straight out of “Blue Christmas,” the standard first popularized by Ernest Tubb, even though it’s the Elvis version everybody knows.)

Blak Thor – Noel (I’m Giving Love for Xmas) — BUY

Neilson Hubbard – Merry Christmas (Wherever You May Be) — BUY

Do you still need to buy music for someone this Christmas? You would be well advised to purchase Alice Smith’s 2006 debut album For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. It mixes a lot of genres: R & B, rock, jazz, blues, pop, reggae, cabaret, showtunes, and soul. I’ve seen people compare her to Phoebe Snow and Fiona Apple, but she always reminded me of Joan Armatrading, especially her 1980 album Me Myself I.

Smith has an incredibly powerful and emotive voice, with a four-octave range. On the compilation The Hotel Café presents… Winter Songs, she contributes a cover of “Silver Bells.” Her fellow artists on the collection include KT Tunstall, Fiona Apple and Sara Bareilles with Ingrid Michaelson, so that gives you a sense of the vibe.

In 2008, the duo Little Jackie released their debut album The Stoop. The band Imani Coppola and Adam Pallin is influenced by old school R&B and hip-hop, part Motown and part Def Jam. Their snarky and spirited lyrics remind me of Lily Allen, as evidenced by their hit single “The World Should Revolve Around Me.”

After the fact, I figured out that vocalist Imani Coppola contributed to Smith’s album, having written two of the songs, as arranging the strings and contributing background vocals.

Last year, Target released a free Christmas compilation, and Little Jackie gave us the independent women anthem “Mrs. Claus Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Me.”

Little Jackie finally released a follow-up album this year through Bandcamp. According to her Facebook page, Alice Smith is finally finishing her second album.

Alice Smith – Silver Bells — BUY

Little Jackie – Mrs. Claus Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Me

Back when I was a kid, the Christmas music I heard was pretty lightweight. I wasn’t listening to some of the fine seasonal offerings from Stax or Atlantic. I wasn’t much of a rock or soul aficionado at all.

I prefer Christmas music with a little heft, but there can be something charming about the lighter offerings. For example, The Free Design’s 1968 single “Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas)” offers an odd blend of wistful pop and folk psychedelia. It sounds like it could either be a children’s record or a jingle for a bank commercial.

Their style became influential on more contemporary bands like Stereolab and Pizzicato Five. The Bird and the Bee seem to also be channeling that sound with their 2007 version of “Carol of the Bells.”

Think of these as little soufflés to balance out heavier offerings.

The Free Design – Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) — BUY

The Bird and the Bee – Carol of the Bells — BUY

It’s a decent song, but it wears out quickly. Instead, I prefer two of her other Christmas songs.

The B-side of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was “Papa Noël,” which celebrates a Cajun Christmas. It appears to be a variation of Hank Williams’ song “Jambalaya (On the Bayou),” which was Lee’s debut single in 1956.

Also in ’56, her second single was a Christmas record, “Christy Christmas.” The B-side of that was “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus.”

Lee was a child star, being only 12 and 13 when she recorded these two songs. In particular, “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” captures a very innocent view of Christmas, stating her intention to force him, by threat of a water pistol gun, to deliver toys to all the kids who don’t have none.

Brenda Lee – Papa Noël — BUY

Brenda Lee – I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus — BUY

But that’s the beauty of pop, taking some staid old standard and pepping it up for modern audiences. Here are two examples.

One of my favorite instances of this comes from the Canadian band the Odds. From 1991, around the time of their debut album, here is their take on “We Three Kings” (a.k.a. “Three Kings of Orient”). The original tune kind of plods along, but the Odds’ arrangement is very crisp. When they get to that really dark section of the lyrics – “Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume….” –  the background vocals add a touch of drama. (Read the background on the song here.)

Pacific Northwest rock band Pond operated out of Portland in the Nineties. There were on the Sub Pop label!  They came and went too quickly, releasing only three albums over a five-year period. But their version of the carol “Angels We Have Heard on High” really snaps, crackles and pops, ending with a lively touch of distortion. The song is based on the traditional French carol “Les Anges dans nos Campagnes” ( more here).

[NOTE: I think both of the compilations these songs are taken from are out of print. Also, post title inspiration here.]

The Odds – Kings of Orient

Pond – Gloria in Excelsis Deo